Gonzobob

Just saw the Acid Drop Acans, how long is this offer good for? Don't know when the group buy is going to get set...

hey guys, while we're waiting for this group order to solidify, any rhizos?

Heck yeah!!

I've ordered from Will several times and always been happy.

I'm in.

As most of the Elph's don't seem to have a standard viewfinder another option would be to attach, via velcro, adhesieve ect, a dark shield to keep the screen in the dark. see the link below for an example:

http://www.dealtime.com/Lee-LEE-Filters-SS200-Screen-Shade-for-Digital-Cameras/info

Yup, with both ceriths and nassarius's I generally wait 24 hours before I call them dead.

My death tool looks a lot lighter than I feared

Fuzzy chitons (all) (have isolated in HOB fuge but pretty sure they're dead)

Red leg hermit 1

Blue leg hermits 1

turbo (1 possible, have isolated in HOB fuge but doesn't look good)

Nassarius holding evaluation till tomorrow.

fighting conch (1 possible, have isolated in HOB fuge but doesn't look good)

With the more delicate tangs even once they are in the tank it’s a good idea to leave them alone for several days. Try to resist the urge to constantly look behind rocks to check on them. Once you’ve verified the tang is alive move on and give them time and space to get settled.

Ok gently / gradually cover the container he is in. Darkness will help minimize the stress which is probably what is causing the behavior. As much as possible resist the urge to keep checking on him, also anytime you move a fish from one container to another do so as gently as possible.

yup, just tie the airline in a loose knot, tighten or loosen to regulate the drip

I use the same method used above rather than drip acclimation.

Ryan,

Thank you so much for running this group buy.

I know that I and others will have lost some of our livestock but we are very aware that you have gone above and beyond both setting everything up and communicating to us throughout the order.

Thank you again,

Russell

In my experience they do a pretty good job. But so do turbos and other less expensive CUC members. I like them as they help with algae but also add something interesting to look at in the tank.

yup, I'll need to arrange a pickup quickly after delivery, hermits, chitons and a conch. I work in Round Rock so should be fairly straight forward.

Order complete for $78

Yup seen them in the wild, Incredable.

Check Reef Centeral for some articles and forum postings. Most of the people I've read about successfully keeping were doing so in NPS (non photosynthetic) tanks due to the heavy feeding requirements.

interested as well.

I'm in for at least $30.

Shane's done 2 tanks with a total of 3 overflows for me and all have worked without issue.

Agree with Teresa, unless you notice any asymmetrical receding flesh you probably have nothing to worry about. From a location standpoint generally the only things that would impact a coral asymmetrically are current and interaction with the environment, usually another coral or predator.

Non asymmetrical receding can indicate a host of other issues from water chemistry issues to lack of food / light.

My belief is that most ‘reef safe’ breeds of hermits provided with adequate food will keep to a fairly strict detrivore diet. To be fair I haven’t ‘tempted ‘ any of mine with such slow moving targets as ponys. On the other hand I have seen occasions where hermits have attacked and killed snails. I used to write this off as ‘shell jacking’ but after a while I started to realize that often hermits would attack snails in obviously smaller shells. That ruled out my ‘shell jacked’ theory, or at least minimized its relevance and after a while I noticed that this happened less often in my tanks with more fish. Eventually I made the connection between more fish and more feeding. I’m happy feeding a coral 2-5 times a week but fish demand daily (if not more) feeding. End result of observation was that the hermits in my more regularly fed tanks ‘tended’ to be more well behaved.

Anyway, my 2 cents.

I'm sorry for your loss. Hermits are crabs and are either non-reef safe or reef safe with conditions. Let's face it they are opportunistic feeders, (as are most if not all the "reef safe" crabs). In most cases they will be fine but there will always be exceptions. Ponies, being less than nimble are susceptible to things that most reef fish would simply ignore.

Something to consider.

I'm sorry for your loss. I've loved mandarin's since I first saw one in the late 80s. Best guess (and unfortunatly that's what it is) is that he got beat up by something, gobies, female mandarin, hermit don't know but either he got an infection that caused receding flesh (looking at the fins) but didn't impact his color or something was picking at him.

Anyway, that's my reasoning.

As someone who's run a variety of sized salt tanks I'd recommend not starting with a pico. Smaller tanks are much less forgiving of many of the mistakes new hobbyists tend to make than larger tanks.

On to some of your questions:

1: While I’ve grown a pair of very young clowns out in my pico (5.5gal) once they got over an inch long IMO they needed a bigger tank.

2: Live rock is for biological filtration. You will still want / need some form of mechanical filtration. Generally on successful small tanks with no mechanical filtration the key to success is experienced aquarists with large frequent water changes. (20 -30% multiple times a week)

3: Dwarf seahorses are fine but should be considered in most cases for advanced aquarists only due to feeding requirements.

Not sure what you normally feed but if you haven't yet you might try soaking in garlic or even better selcon. Might try live brine shrimp to tempt her into eating. (low food quality but if it breaks an eating slump they can be usefull).

Now that she's in your hospital tank can you get a better look at her? Anything significant other than the tail?

Likely just bad luck. What was his behavior like in the store?

Check valves are not recommended as they can fail. Drill the hole slightly below water level. You will have some drainback but this will break the suction and prevent any further drain.

As many have said, I make my salt water at least a day in advance. I use a 16 gal rubbermaid vat with a powerhead and heater (if needed), I test the temp and salinity in the morning and make any adjustments, I'm usually ready before noon and use a MJ1200 to move salt water to 5 gallon jugs. I set the jugs next to the ATO vat, move the ATO pump to the vat of fresh salt water. I drain old water (while scraping glass, blowing debris off of live rock or performing any other cleaning actions) and as it drains the ATO simply replaces the old water with fresh water.

kills at home depot